From when my Parents gave me my first train set for a Christmas present as a child, I have had an interest in model railways. I originally started in "OO" gauge, but have also built in "N" and "O" gauge. The last layout I built was my exhibition layout "Holmehurst" which was in "O" gauge, and I exhibited it around the country. Photos of it can be seen by following this link.

I inherited some "OO9" rolling stock from my late father, including a loco I built from a white metal kit for him, and ever since living on our working narrowboat Hadar I have been thinking about building a "OO9" layout.

For those who do not know, "OO9" is "OO" scale, which is 4mm to 1ft, but the track and rolling stock are narrow gauge, equivalent to 2ft gauge in real life. Modelling-wise this means that I can used standard "OO" scale buildings, people, scenery etc. of which there is a far greater range of ready built items and kits to choose from, but it has the advantage that the reduced size of the track and rolling stock means that curves can be tighter than for standard gauge, without losing a realistic look within a restricted layout size.

I had thought about building a layout in our garden alongside our mooring at the Saltisford Canal Centre, but after much thought decided that this would not be practical. However I built a small layout (now dismantled) which sat on the shelf above the display cabinet, in our saloon, which houses my "O" gauge rolling stock. Having finished it, my wife Jo suggested that when we stop selling coal I could build a layout in the hold. As we stopped selling coal at the end of 2016.

This is a full record of the building of the original layout, and having moved into a flat in Warwick and sold our narrowboat, this will now cover the building of the New Hadarford in our flat.

Please feel free to leave comments, I am always interested in suggestions or questions.

Thursday, 8 January 2026

Track Laying Part 11

 The production line has increased today, with 30 drop wires prepared for the second baseboard and 30 pieces of webbing between sleepers cut ready for soldering the drop wires to the rails.

30 pieces of drop wire cut to length

Insulation removed from the ends of the 30 drop wires

I am making good use of my new soldering iron that Jo gave to me for Christmas, It is so much better than my old iron

All 30 drop wire ends wetted with solder

All 30 drop wires bent ready to solder to the rails

Just 2 of the 30 pieces of webbing cut from between the sleepers ready for soldering the drop wires to the rails

Keith

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)